A Wish Granted
by gniwyerg
Summary: An AU in which one central character's wish is granted and the consequences thereof. Not what you expect.


The great starship propelled itself through the vast vacuum of space.

Its ominous form resembled a torso, or odd plated armor, breastplate and  
shoulder plates, floating detachedly through space. Its silhouette in any sky  
meant death and destruction. 

No one in the entirety of the universe knew this better than the ship's  
occupants. One reveled in this power, drinking in its sweet, brief ecstasy, but  
as of yet unsatisfied with the meager taste he had been offered. There was an  
ocean of it waiting somewhere within the ever-expanding bounds of space  
and he was going to find it, capture it, study it, and make it his own.

The other of this ship... The other was sheltered. The outside world  
was a mystery, as were the beings that inhabited it. There were a few things  
she understood quite perfectly, contrary to the belief of her shipmate, things  
such as, oh, death, chaos, and destruction. These were the norm in her life;  
she knew nothing else.

There were also the emotions. Things life fear, desperation,  
despair, helplessness, loneliness, hopelessness, and then there were the others,  
thrill, excitement, anticipation. Things like these that wrecked havoc within  
her, sometimes causing her hand to slip in an act of disobedience or to make  
her laugh long and loud. Then there was the man, the other on board, the one  
that told her what to do.

She didn't understand him. Sometimes he was kind. Sometimes he  
was angry. Sometimes he didn't take any notice of her at all. Sometimes he  
gave her a gift. Sometimes he beat her. Sometimes he neglected her  
altogether. She... felt... different things for him, even though he told her  
emotions were for weaklings--and she wasn't a weakling.

She was afraid of him, she knew. She was also grateful towards him  
or sometimes hateful. But above all she was bound to him. What he wanted  
she did. Or else.

Tonight had been "or else." When he had sent her down to the  
surface to do his bidding, she had spared the life of a young man--against  
his order. In turn, he had beaten her until she didn't know the difference  
between one pain and another; they all rolled together into one blinding wave.  
She now lay where he had left her, on the walkway in his favorite room. His  
deft, talented fingers wove a morbid song about her, either nursing her back  
to health or lulling her into oblivion.

She hated it his organ playing.

She blinked and her vision cleared a bit; it seemed that moisture had  
been building up in her eyes and had been clouding her sight. The liquid  
trailed past her temple and into her hair.

From somewhere within her, she found the strength to shape the  
words, "I wish I was dead."

Something heard her small plea.

"A Wish Granted"

Story and concept by greywing

Based on the series Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki copyrighted by Pioneer and a  
whole bunch of other people other than me.

Jurai burned, as if an angry god had sent a rain of fire upon the  
surface. Amid the turmoil, a valiant man, armed with a glowing sword, raced  
out to pursue the being that threatened his home, his life, and the lives of the  
ones he loved.

Unnoticed behind him, chased a lovely young woman, calling his  
name.

The crown prince of Jurai, Yosho, stared at the abomination before  
him. So many lives lost because of this... of this... this monster! Was there  
no justice in this world that so many were to be ripped away by one,  
insignificant creature? Some part of him untouched by the prejudices that had  
haunted him throughout his entire life surged with righteous fury on the part  
of his countrymen and the sting of his own suffering bit deeply into his spirit.

Something not entirely within stirred him to act. But he was decided.

He, Yosho, would deliver justice. Yes, he, Yosho, would end this!

Tenchi hummed with renewed life in his hands, thrumming in  
correspondence to his own newfound purpose, burning bright like a ray of  
hope for a new generation. Its blue blade streaked through the air  
condemningly towards its malevolent prey as sure as any executioner's axe.

For Jurai!

Within confinement, a mother wept silently for her lost child, the  
child she had not been able to be there for, yet another child taken away from  
her. What was it all for? What was it all for?

The odd-looking, but cute creature was very loyal. Where its  
mistress went so would it. Death wasn't so scary knowing that someone was  
waiting for you.

There could only be one victor at the end of the battle between  
Prince Yosho and the demon Ryoko and with its finale, order was returned to  
the universe. The horror that had struck so many planets and touched so many  
people, indiscriminate as to species and sex, faded away into history, then  
legend, and finally branched into the uncertain veins of myth. As after all  
tragedies, the survivors moved on with their lives, perhaps none the wiser for  
the experience. Inexorably, time passed...

Though wood in construction, the spaceship Ryu-oh had no trouble  
at all drifting inconspicuously through space. Its sensors fervently swept  
across the emptiness of the locations it passed, searching, searching. On  
board, searching just as much in spirit as the ship, was a very special cargo,  
two lives suspended in beauty and motion that would resume on the day their  
self-appointed task ended.

One of which was Sasami, a Princess of Jurai. Bonded with the tree  
of the beginning as she was, Sasami was no ordinary girl. In her timeless  
sleep, she dreamed.

In her dream, there was a dove. It was a very beautiful dove and this  
dove was very free, flying gaily through crystal blue skies all the livelong  
day. While the dove flew its course, the sky grew dark, and from the sky  
reached down a pair of hands, encasing the bird between its palms. The dove  
struggled so the hands broke its wings. For good measure, the wings were  
clipped. The dove was put in a cage for safekeeping and with time it healed,  
but it was miserable and longed always to fly again in the blue skies.

Inexplicably, the dove shed tears of grief and longing until at some  
time it was left alone. Its prison door was open, as was the window the cage  
was placed near. Seeing the sky beyond, the dove eagerly escaped its cage  
and perched on the windowsill. So excited it was, it forgot all its pain and  
suffering and spread its wings. It leapt, intending with all of its being to fly  
away, and instead plummeted to the earth below where there was kept a  
beautiful garden.

It died.

The body decomposed and nourished the earth. Where it had lain a  
thorny weed grew. It choked the flowers in the garden until not one flower  
grew anymore. Then it too died.

Sasami saw all this, but she had no idea what it meant. Nor could she  
have discussed it with anyone stuck as she was in suspended animation until  
the end of her quest.

A quest that unbeknownst to her or her companion would not have  
an end.

Wearily, the old priest of the wayward shrine laid down the brush he  
had been writing with. Staring back at him was a half-completed saying he  
had been formulating, but had only noticed now that it had no real meaning at  
all. When had he tired of writing these things?

The writing itself he never truly tired of; his calligraphy was  
flawless. His strokes were like well placed sword strokes, concise and  
elegant. When was the last time he had picked up a real sword? It seemed all  
he dallied in now was child's play.

Then again, his grandson, Masaki Tenchi, was a child compared to  
him. This hot summer day found Tenchi--whom he had suggested to be  
named almost ironically after the great sword he had once yielded--sweeping  
the shrine grounds. Why the priest bothered to teach the boy swordplay was  
beyond him. Actually, that wasn't true at all. It was for Achika, the old man  
told himself. Achika had just kept pestering him and pestering him until he  
had granted her wish. How could he say no to his daughter?

"Grandfather!"

"What is it, Tenchi?" he called out to his grandson.

"Mom's finished cooking lunch!" Tenchi called back.

"Coming," he answered and made to stand, but stopped himself.  
Sighing he turned and looked out his window into the sky. His eyes searched  
futilely for the star he knew to be up there, the star unseen by the light of day.  
His eyes searched for the place where he had left behind a world of  
possibilities.

The Galaxy Police was a well-respected authority and thus it was  
easily understandable about the misgivings of the officials of this fine  
institute about First Class Detective Kuramitsu Mihoshi. These men and  
women grumbled quietly behind the Marshall's back, agonizing together  
about all the trouble the young, once promising woman was making for all of  
them. There was only disgrace now where there was once brilliance! She still  
performed miraculously good deeds, certainly, but at a great cost to all of  
them, financially and reputably. Something had to be done before any real  
damage could be done.

A plot was hatched, a fate decided.

What harm was it to send the child after a needle in a haystack? No  
harm done if you never find the needle.

Time stopped for no one...

First Class Detective Kuramitsu Mihoshi was on the case! Still. As  
she had been for the past one hundred years, scouring the universe for a sign  
of the feared and legendary Kagato. Countless leads followed; countless dead  
ends found. She had discovered that on the backwater worlds, there truly  
were horrors that took place. Mihoshi herself had almost been a victim of  
cannibalism. But it was all in the name of duty, so Mihoshi put all of this  
behind her and moved onto the next clue, the next lead, the next eyewitness.

She didn't smile as much as she used to. She didn't laugh as much  
anymore either.

In fact, she'd made quite a name for herself in the shadier circles of  
the universe, utilizing those contacts and any other to farther her search any  
way she could. The universe could rest peacefully with Mihoshi on the job;  
she would bring Kagato to justice as soon as she could figure out who was  
sleeping next to her this morning.

Emperor Azusa of the great Juraian Empire believed he had an  
abundance of patience. However, he was not a blind man. He knew when  
things became fruitless and were to be abandoned and this was one such time.  
His son had been missing for eight hundred years now, his daughters almost  
equally as long, having run off after Yosho. It was time, he admitted, to  
acknowledge that his son was most probably dead. He had, like Ayeka and  
Sasami, Funaho and Misaki, hoped Yosho had survived. Now, it had just  
been too long and he had to ensure that the royal line of Jurai continued.

When a few hundred years had passed after Yosho's disappearance,  
Azusa had taken precautions in the event that Yosho would never return. Part  
of that included seeking a fiancée for Ayeka. That man was Seiryo, a fine  
young man, whose marriage to Azusa's daughter would ensure the favor of  
one of Azusa's most impassioned opposers.

Yes, Azusa reasoned, it was time. There was absolutely no sense in  
waiting any longer. He ignored the protests of his wives. He ignored the  
outcries of the council. What he did now he did for no one but himself.

He was calling his children home.

The message that came for them left Kamidake and Azaka in no  
small state of surprise. Nonetheless, they weren't willing to disobey their  
liege. And so, Ryu-oh's course was adjusted until it once again pointed  
towards the beginning.

Ayeka, First Princess of Jurai, opened her eyes hopefully. But what  
she saw was not her guardians, was not a view on Ryu-oh's bridge, was not  
her brother, was not her betrothed, but the face of her mother smiling warmly  
at her.

Her mother embraced her. Ayeka wept bitterly.

A curse on his head, a curse put there by Ryoko! To outlive not only  
his wife, not only Achika and her husband, but Tenchi as well, seeing his  
children grow up into fine young men and women! It was too much! The  
worst thing of was that he knew he could not remain there any longer; not  
only was he too old, far too old, but he no longer felt any love for the place. It  
no longer brought him peace of mind.

Instead he had grown restless. Many times he had stripped off his  
disguise and stared at the young man in the mirror that looked back at him.  
Not a day older he looked. Not a damn day. Was there no end? He had a  
sudden longing to see Jurai one more time, having seen this planet inside out  
now, carrying the damn Tenchi-ken from which the gems that had belonged  
to the demon winked at him. The gems he had taken as a sort of trophy. The  
same gems that provided Funaho with power, the power that kept him alive  
and young!

How ironic!

Humans lived such short lives. He couldn't stand to see another  
generation of his line grow old and pass away before his eyes while he  
remained ever the same. What a curse his was, a curse of youth and longevity,  
one that he couldn't even enjoy. He had left Jurai to be rid of these things and  
they had followed him despite all his efforts.

Without any roots--oh, that Funaho had taken root was more the  
irony--he wandered the face of this backwater planet, the planet he had come  
so much to love... and now the place he would come to hate so very much.

There was no end in sight...

Imagine that, Jurai had fallen under the might of another. The  
Emperor was dead, as were his two wives. Princess Sasami had fled,  
managing somehow to escape with her life. Princess Ayeka was not as lucky  
and had been taken hostage by the invader. The tree nursery had been  
thoroughly ransacked by the Ayeka's kidnapper and in a fit of rage he had  
destroyed it all. He hadn't found what he was looking for.

Kagato was a powerful man in his own right. The Souja was also  
formidable, a mighty ship like none other. Together, they did what they had  
failed to do the first time and this time around the ramifications of his actions  
would forever scar the planet.

Yet, Kagato still failed regardless of having toppled, without so  
much as a blink of an eye, one of the greatest empires of the universe. After  
all, Kagato still didn't have Tsunami, the Juraian tree that held all the power  
he could ever dream of. No matter. Ayeka would provide the answers, the key  
to all his searching and researching. In fact, he was finding Ayeka to be a  
very powerful reminder of his late Ryoko, lost to him so long ago.

He was sure the princess would love the new song he composed.

And with each blow he dealt her, Ayeka only laughed in her  
shattered mind, succumbing to depression, conceding her sanity. All life had  
offered her had ended in pain and suffering and destruction. What use was  
there crying about it now?

Trapped within the Souja, the petite scientist wept for the princess of  
Jurai, prematurely mourning the loss of yet another child.

"Jurai has been attacked by Kagato today," the television blared in  
the bar. A stunned hush fell on the crowd; even those too drunk to realize the  
import of the news stopped speaking and turned to pay attention. Kuramitsu  
Mihoshi looked up from the hand of cards she had been playing. Staring at  
the screen, she watched the footage of the Souja being pursued by Galaxy  
Police ships and said ships being blown into oblivion.

At first it was a twitch at the one corner of her lip. Then she smiled.  
The smile widened into a grin. At last she laughed outright drawing the stares  
and attention to her.

All Mihoshi could think about was her resignation sitting on her  
grandfather's desk at the Galaxy Police Headquarters.

Far removed from the ailing planet, Tenchi-ken blazed into life for  
the first time in nearly a millennium.

Justice. Justice! JUSTICE!

Grant me Justice!

The blade of energy ripped through bark and wood, searing away sap  
on touch. When the deed was done and the tree felled, Yosho wept with  
relief, adding his tears to the small lake around him.

Finally... finally...

In the hilt of Tenchi-ken, the gems glowed in the sunlight.

Tsunami wept for all her children. Jurai was suffering. The nation  
that was once so great had fallen in a matter of moments. The council  
members had become power hungry rather than compassionate. The nations  
that had existed beneath Azusa's reign had seceded and turned their backs on  
the once high and mighty Jurai. They had disliked being bullied into Azusa's  
empire and this was their payback. And Ayeka... Tsunami had no heart to  
inform her other self of Ayeka's state.

Sasami wept for her home and for her family aboard the grand ship  
Tsunami. She had lost all she had left in one fell swoop. Now there was  
nothing, not even something to return to--no throne to claim, even if she  
wanted to ascend it to help the people. They would not accept her now.

"Where did it go wrong?" Sasami asked Tsunami.

"I don't know," she told the child. "I don't know."

After all, no one remembers the wicked. They are as unimportant as  
the butterfly that beats its wings.

end a wish granted

Notes:  
That was really morbid. A few explanations are in order, I believe.  
First and foremost, Tenchi Muyo! is a series that, of course, stars  
Tenchi Masaki. But, really, is Tenchi the focal point of everything?  
If you go back far enough it comes to a point where Tenchi really  
has nothing to do with anything--everyone was around much sooner  
than Tenchi was. Much of this story ended up focusing on Jurai,  
actually. In its original writing, I didn't include Washu, Ryo-ohki, or  
Mihoshi. Going back I realized that they would be in existence  
around the times mentioned as well as affected by all these events,  
so I wrote them in.

RYOKO:The OVA hinges on Ryoko. If Ryoko didn't attack Jurai,  
what would've been Yosho's excuse to leave? Sasami  
wouldn't be Tsunami. Tenchi wouldn't have had an urge to  
go into the cave, never gaining the Tenchi-ken (master  
key), awakening Ryoko who would awaken Ryo-ohki and  
send Ayeka's scanners crazy, taking her out of suspended  
animation. Mihoshi wouldn't have tried to land on Earth,  
thus she wouldn't have freed Washu and then Ayeka and  
Ryoko would probably have been killed by Kagato's hand  
(not that any of this could have happened without Ryoko in  
the first place). And so on and so on...

YOSHO:You've really got to wonder about this guy. I mean, he runs  
away from Jurai, does God knows what for 700 years, most  
probably settles down with a few women, has a few  
children, somewhere along the way he has Achika and from  
Achika comes Tenchi. But, really, 700 years on Earth, and  
settling down at a shrine where he writes sayings that waste  
five seconds of your time. Oi, I really felt I needed to  
spruce him up a bit. The fact that he spared Ryoko in the  
OVA kind of turned me off to Yosho; he was too noble.  
So he found a little hard luck this time around. At least I  
didn't totally disregard him from the story.

AYEKA:I respect Ayeka, I really do, although I'm more inclined  
towards liking Ryoko. She has many good characteristics  
about her, but at the beginning of the show, remember  
OVA, Ayeka has very flimsy anchors in her life. I always  
did wonder what it would be like for her to just lose them  
altogether, without meeting Tenchi as an almost substitute  
(although I do believe she grows to have genuine feelings  
for him in the series).

SASAMI:A quick note here, because Ryoko did attack Jurai in this  
story, Tsunami would have had to bond with Sasami to  
keep her from dying. Her dream is symbolic in a few ways.  
I'll let the daring interpret that dream in any way they want  
--feel free to fire off some ideas at me.

AZUSA:Do I really believe he would give up on his son? Depends.  
He sent out Ayeka and Sasami to look for Yosho. Not  
exactly the best search party to send out. I'll let you draw  
your inferences. Seiryo (or however you spell his name) is  
the pink-haired man Azusa had chosen as Ayeka's fiancée  
at the end of the OVA.

Completed February 2, 2002


End file.
